The Recruitment Society: Make job specifications more open

Businesses operating in serviced offices and other buildings should look to be more open with what their employees job specification requires them to do by looking at what other abilities they have, according to the Recruitment Society.

It suggested that instead of “herding” people into tight and inflexible job specifications, a more open approach would allow people to have freedom to expand their role, which would help organisations retain staff.

Steve Huxham, chairman of the Recruitment Society, said: “Employers should be very worried about it [because] if those people have the opportunity to get out and do something different, they will take it.

“That is not going to help the retention [of staff] if you see the labour market picking up, [and could lead] to a shortage of skills et cetera.”

He added the more opportunities people have to do different things, the more likely they are to stay at a company.
A recent survey from the Chartered Management Institute found that nearly 50 per cent of respondents were further behind in their careers than they would like to be at this stage in their lives.

The Recruitment Society is the only professional membership body in the UK that brings together all those involved in any way or capacity with resourcing through their work.